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Torremolinos town hall has joined a programme for the captive breeding of barn owls in order to protect the species and promote their reintroduction into their natural habitat. The project is being carried at the Molina de Inca botanical gardens, which has a registered bird zoo and has the necessary breeding licence.
As a result of the programme, the first owl chick, born at the facility on 28 March, has been ringed and transferred to the bell tower of Alpandeire church, where the Rastrea conservation association has installed a continuously monitored nest box to track the chick's development and progress.
The young bird is being gradually introduced into the wild through a method known as controlled field rearing. This method is considered to be one of the most effective in restoring certain bird populations.
The system consists of raising chicks in a state of semi-freedom, placing them in nests that simulate natural ones and providing food artificially. This allows the chicks to adapt to the new environment and learn to look for food, and to develop on their own in the natural environment gradually.
There has been a decline of around 50 per cent of the population of barn owls in some parts of Spain. The lack of nesting sites and the extensive use of industrial pesticides has been blamed for negatively affecting the species.
The SEO Birdlife organisation said that the populations of this bird, included in the list of wild species under special protection, have suffered a drastic decline, especially in the so-called Southern Mediterranean region (Andalucía).
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